Tendulkar's absence a blessing in disguise - Afridi

Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's captain for the upcoming World Twenty20, has said that Sachin Tendulkar's absence from the Indian team for the tournament will be a blessing in disguise for the other sides.

"The way he has blossomed in the last few years, he is only getting better and better as a batsman. If he is not playing for India in the Twenty20 World Cup, it is certainly a big advantage for other teams," Afridi was quoted in the Times of India. "If Tendulkar had played in this World Cup, I am sure he would made big impact for India."

Tendulkar voluntarily ruled himself out of international Twenty20 matches in 2007, before the inaugural World Twenty20, in order to preserve himself for the longer formats. He has been in fine form in the IPL, having scored 303 runs in the first six matches, seven runs shy of Jacques Kallis who tops the run charts. Tendulkar's purple patch led to suggestions that he reconsider his decision, but Tendulkar has ruled out such a possibility.

Afridi feels that age has not had any effect on Tendulkar's powers. "With every match he seems to be growing as a batsman and getting better. He is playing like a teenager. There is no sign of age affecting his game at all," Afridi said.

"The biggest thing that he still enjoys playing the sport and he is hunger for runs has not died at all," he said. I think even in Twenty20 cricket you need to bat properly and at times even playing out 20 overs is a big challenge for a team. You need to play orthodox cricket," Afridi said.

Amit Mishra motivated by selectors' rejection

Amit Mishra the Delhi Daredevils legspinner who currently leads the wickets tally for IPL 2010, is motivated to continue his good form despite missing out on a spot in the Indian side for the World Twenty20.

"I would be lying if I say I was not expecting a berth in the World Twenty20 squad," Mishra told the Times of India. "I have been doing well, but then I can't control certain things. In fact, if anything I am motivated to do even better. There are a couple of counties who have offered me a pro contract. If I get permission from the BCCI, I may just go and play for them."

Mishra has been in and out of the Indian side in recent times, sharing the second spinner's spot with Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla. Mishra's bowling has received its share of criticism, but the bowler remains focused on his strengths. "See, there are a lot of people who say that Mishra is too slow, he should play domestic cricket a little more, he is this, he is that. Sometimes, I do get affected by all this. But then there are the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sehwag and Dhoni who have advised me a lot.

"Sehwag cited his own example and said that I should continue doing things which I have done [well] to get a place in the Indian team. Others advised me to be patient and keep working on my game, but I guess it is important to be thick-skinned when you are playing for India," Mishra said.

Mishra has often bowled with the new ball during the IPL, and met with success. "I was always mentally prepared to open the bowling as at times we had to take the pace off the ball. If you ask me, the high-point of this IPL, it would have to be the manner in which I dismissed Jacques Kallis with a googly. It was a planned dismissal and gave me immense satisfaction.

"I bowled a googly because Kallis has this habit of going over the top on the off-side and I was just trying to target the gap between his bat and pad. You can say I got lucky," Mishra said.

Mishra and his Delhi captain, Gautam Gambhir, go back a long way, having played together at various levels in their preparatory years. "Yeah, Gautam is my best friend. We learnt our cricket together, grew up together and share a lot both on and off the field. But he is extremely aggressive and if anyone thinks that being his friend means that I can get away with a below par show, it is absolutely wrong. He is a kind of cricketer and you can check this with anyone who has played with him, who will drop me if he thinks that I don't fit the bill," Mishra said.

Comparison to Automated Testing

Test automation is the technique of testing software using software rather than people. A test program is written that exercises the software and identifies its defects. These test programs may be written from scratch, or they may be written utilizing a generic Test automation framework that can be purchased from a third party vendor. Test automation can be used to automate the sometimes menial and time consuming task of following the steps of a use case and reporting the results.

Test automation may be able to reduce or eliminate the cost of actual testing. A computer can follow a rote sequence of steps more quickly than a person, and it can run the tests overnight to present the results in the morning. However, the labor that is saved in actual testing must be spent instead authoring the test program. Depending on the type of application to be tested, and the automation tools that are chosen, this may require more labor than a manual approach. In addition, some testing tools present a very large amount of data, potentially creating a time consuming task of interpreting the results. From a cost-benefit perspective, test automation becomes more cost effective when the same tests can be reused many times over, such as for regression testing and test-driven development, and when the results can be interpreted quickly. If future reuse of the test software is unlikely, then a manual approach is preferred.

From the perspective of practicality, software that does not have a graphical user interface tends to be tested by automatic methods. Things such as device drivers and software libraries must be tested using test programs. In addition, testing of large numbers of users (performance testing and load testing) is typically simulated in software rather than performed in practice.

Conversely, graphical user interfaces whose layout changes frequently are very difficult to test automatically. There are test frameworks that can be used for regression testing of user interfaces. They rely on recording of sequences of keystrokes and mouse gestures, then playing them back and observing that the user interface responds in the same way every time. Unfortunately, these recordings may not work properly when a button is moved or relabeled in a subsequent release. An automatic regression test may also be fooled if the program output varies significantly (e.g. the display includes the current system time). In cases such as these, manual testing may be more effective.

Test automation is the use of software to control the execution of tests, the comparison of actual outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test reporting functions. Commonly, test automation involves automating a manual process already in place that uses a formalized testing process.

ICC rankings for Tests and ODIs

ICC Test Championship

01 Apr 2010
Team	Matches	Points	Rating
India	38	4719	124
South Africa	38	4572	120
Australia	42	4979	119
Sri Lanka	31	3574	115
England	47	5063	108
Pakistan	25	2008	80
New Zealand	32	2541	79
West Indies	29	2224	77
Bangladesh	25	270	11

ICC ODI Championship

01 Apr 2010
Team	Matches	Points	Rating
Australia	53	7051	133
India	49	5982	122
South Africa	29	3401	117
New Zealand	33	3773	114
England	36	3965	110
Sri Lanka	40	4336	108
Pakistan	33	3420	104
West Indies	30	2158	72
Bangladesh	38	1987	52
Zimbabwe	37	1011	27
Ireland	6	152	25
Kenya	14	28	2

Manual testing

Manual testing is the process of manually testing software for defects. It requires a tester to play the role of an end user, and use most of all features of the application to ensure correct behavior. To ensure completeness of testing, the tester often follows a written test plan that leads them through a set of important test cases.

A test case in software engineering is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. The mechanism for determining whether a software program or system has passed or failed such a test is known as a test oracle. In some settings, an oracle could be a requirement or use case, while in others it could be a heuristic. It may take many test cases to determine that a software program or system is functioning correctly. Test cases are often referred to as test scripts, particularly when written. Written test cases are usually collected into test suites.

Formal test cases

In order to fully test that all the requirements of an application are met, there must be at least two test cases for each requirement: one positive test and one negative test; unless a requirement has sub-requirements. In that situation, each sub-requirement must have at least two test cases. Keeping track of the link between the requirement and the test is frequently done using a traceability matrix. Written test cases should include a description of the functionality to be tested, and the preparation required to ensure that the test can be conducted.

What characterizes a formal, written test case is that there is a known input and an expected output, which is worked out before the test is executed. The known input should test a precondition and the expected output should test a post condition.

Informal test cases

For applications or sxystems without formal requirements, test cases can be written based on the accepted normal operation of programs of a similar class. In some schools of testing, test cases are not written at all but the activities and results are reported after the tests have been run.

In scenario testing, hypothetical stories are used to help the tester think through a complex problem or system. These scenarios are usually not written down in any detail. They can be as simple as a diagram for a testing environment or they could be a description written in prose. The ideal scenario test is a story that is motivating, credible, complex, and easy to evaluate. They are usually different from test cases in that test cases are single steps while scenarios cover a number of steps.

Typical written test case format

A test case is usually a single step, or occasionally a sequence of steps, to test the correct behaviour/functionalities, features of an application. An expected result or expected outcome is usually given.

Additional information that may be included:

• test case ID
• test case description
• test step or order of execution number
• related requirement(s)
• depth
• test category
• author
• check boxes for whether the test is automatable and has been automated.

Additional fields that may be included and completed when the tests are executed:

• pass/fail
• remarks